The fickleness of it all was brought home to everyone. On what for the most part was a wicked day borrowed from the depths of winter, Pádraig Harrington provided a warm blast from the past. Typical, really, that in conditions of stiff winds and flurries of rain which drove others demented, the three-time Major champion brought sanity to the first round of the Irish Open in delivering a superbly crafted 67, four-under-par, on the famed links.
It gave Harrington a share of the first-round lead, with Germany's Maximilian Kieffer – in the last three-ball on the course – equalling his mark, just as the clean-up operation at the course got under way.
But Harrington’s revival, a week to the day after being forced to withdraw from the first round of the BMW PGA Championship due to injury, and three days after missing out on a place at the US Open qualifying, was typical of his resilience.
Somehow, as only someone with a total focus on his own deeds can manage, Harrington had managed to evade any word of the damage inflicted on others – among them world number one Rory McIlroy – in the chaos of the morning wave of players. As Shane Lowry (72), who happened to be in the match behind, quipped: "All I could see was Pádraig's arse in the air."
If that body motion of bending over to retrieve the ball from one tin cup after another combined with the roars floating back confirmed to Lowry that Harrington – belying any trace of the shoulder muscle injury that has bothered him for the past week – was on one of those runs of old, the truth of the matter is that the Dubliner’s performance lifted much of the doom and gloom which hung around after the disappointment of McIlroy’s score, an 80.
McIlroy wasn't alone in suffering some angst. Sergio Garcia, who had dug his iron into the 13th fairway after playing an approach that kicked through into heavy greenside rough, signed for a 75; and current US Open champion Martin Kaymer scribbled his name beneath a 79. Only 13 players managed to sign for a sub-par score. It was that kind of day.
Graeme McDowell, who had soldiered to a 72 only blighted by three successive closing bogeys, had articulated how most players felt. “This course is a beast, borderline evil in this type of wind . . .. this is raw, this is what it’s all about. This is a proper Open championship (conditions),” observed the Ulsterman with clarity bereft of any hint of a moan.
The reality was that the westerly wind which blew across the course made for as tough a test as players have faced in an age. At times, as if the wind itself wasn’t sufficient hardship, the weather brought heavy bursts of rainfall. The result was a course that played to an average of 74.13, more than three strokes above its par. The 15th, a Par 4 into the teeth of the wind, played hardest of all – averaging 4.6 – with only two birdies all day. One of them, as it happened, came from Harrington.
This was vintage Harrington, where the tougher the elements resulted in all the more eager the response. He conjured up seven birdies in all, five of which came on the run home and kick-started by a bogey on the 10th. He secured a hat-trick of birdies from the 11th – from 12 inches, eight feet and 12 feet respectively – and then grabbed further birdies on the 15th and 16th.
The birdie on the 15th was one against the head. There, he hit a four-iron approach from the intermediate rough to 15 feet. If there was any regret, it was that he failed to birdie the Par 5 18th where he tried to hit a three-quarter 4-wood shot which curled left into the rough beside a mobile television unit. “It was careless, but I have to get that out of my head,” said Harrington.
What remains very much in his head is how he won the Honda Classic, playing on a sponsor’s invite, on the PGA Tour in Florida just three months ago. “It always stands to you when you’ve got a win under your belt, you’re not under as much immediate stress and pressure. You feel good about yourself, that you’ve got across the (winning) line. If it had gone against me, I’d be saying, ‘Gee whizz, am I going to mess up?’ Who knows what would be going through your head. But if you’ve got a win, it makes life a lot easier for sure.”
Harrington, the trendsetter for this golden generation for Irish golf, seemed relaxed and in the groove. He knows from experience there are two ways he can seek to get the job done.
“I can play great from now on and try and get away from the field, or play average and fight it out on Sunday afternoon . . . now I’m in a position where, if I keep my head on and play okay for the next three days, I should have a chance on Sunday. And obviously if I play well the next three days, other people are going to have to come and catch me.” The preferred option? Definitely. For Harrington anyway.
